Trivia

Was seriously ill during the filming of Le Nom de la rose (1986) and in fact died 5 days after the film was released. He frequently had to interrupt his dialogue because of the pain he was in.

The short one-man play "Herr Karl" was his breakthrough in the German-speaking countries. As the protagonist symbolized the typical Austrian Nazi collaborator, which was downplayed by many Austrians after World War II, he made himself many enemies and even received murder threats (1961).

Performed recitals of famous and infamous texts such as Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" in the 1970s.

After quitting university to become a journalist, he started writing texts for theater plays and cabaret performances. His first play "Jugend vor den Schranken" debuted in 1949.